February 6, 2014 AT 8:00 am

Emmett’s print-in-place secret heart box remix has become a desktop 3D printing classic — twisting the heart into a rounded cylinder and back into a heart never fails to get oohs and ahhs. And around Valentine’s Day you actually might have good ideas for things to put inside the box! Emmet has added a feature to permit you to add text to the box as well.

I really enjoyed Eric Young’s design of his Secret Heart Box, but I didn’t relish hunting down all the required parts to put it together. One thing I learned from designing the Blossoming Lamp is that it’s entirely possible to 3D print complex, preassembled mechanisms without breaking the 45-degree rule. I took it as a challenge to show that it’s possible even with something as seemingly complex as this locking heart box. See the video here.

UPDATE: By popular demand, I’ve modified the customizer code so you can now add words to the top of the heart. Make sure your valentine knows it’s just for them.

A big Thank You to the good people at Makerbot and the bot farm for printing 100 of these as favors for my wedding. It’s good to have a friend with a factory.

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